Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BAIT, BATE, Bayt, v.², n.² Also beat, bet (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)). As in St.Eng. [bet]

1. v.

(1) To feed, to pasture; in Eng. gen. of horses only and on a journey.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
To bayt. 1. To feed, to pasture. . . . 2. In an active sense, to give food to.Bch.(D) 1924 J. Will in Bch. Field Club XIII. 39:
The confoonit vratch 'is been baitin' er coo wi' the girse oot o' my stank.

(2) To rest or halt for food.Sc. 1818 S. Ferrier Marriage II. x.:
We are not inclined to bait there yet a while.

2. n. (See quots.) According to N.E.D. now obs. in St.Eng. but still dialectal.Sc. 1887 Jam.⁶:
Bait, the supply of food for a horse, a feed; also, the time or place for feeding.Sh. 1956 U. Venables Life in Sh. ii.:
Beats we call them [bits of grazing]. Say you drew a four - then you got every fourth beat all around the township.Ork. 1929 Marw.:
Bait, pasture, feeding. “There's a guid b[ait] oot there yet for the kye.”Fif. 1870 R. Chambers Rhymes 150:
A fine bait amang the corn — what for no? A lippie or a peck, a firlot or a bow [boll].

3. ppl.adjs. (1) baiting, feeding; resting; (2) batet, well-fed, thriving.(1) Ayr. 1822 H. Ainslie Pilgrimage 9:
At a good inn upon the confines of that extensive moor . . . they made their first baiting halt.Wgt. 1803 R. Couper Tourifications of Malachi Meldrum II. 188:
My baiting place must thus have been uncommon and uncomfortable.(2) Sc. 1862 A. Hislop Proverbs (3rd ed.) 67:
Broken bread maks batet bairns.

4. Combs.: (1) bait-pick, see Pick; (2) bait-pot, a pot in which food is prepared for horses; (3) bait-trough (see quot.); (4) bait-yaud, see Yaud.(2) ne.Sc. 1874 W. Gregor Echo of Olden Time 20:
Over the fire hung a large iron pot, heaped high with turnips and shillicks. It was the bait-pot, and its contents formed part of the food of the farm-horses.(3) Abd.⁹ 1932:
As I knew it the bait-trough was used to carry the bait from the bait-boiler or bait-pot to the stable.